It’s Wednesday evening and I type these words in a quiet corner of the Berlaymont in Brussels. Outside the evening is a grey November, not quite frosty yet, but winter is on the way. And perhaps a sort of winter is on the way for the institution in whose building I am working.
I am here this week in a group of regional journalists from Ireland. Each of us from farflung arms of the country. Each of us accustomed to testing the waters of our respective regions. And each of us trying to do our bit to understand why the European Parliament does not rock the boat of the Irish public in the manner that Dail Eireann or the City Council Chamber does.
And maybe that has been the problem. That Europe, the European Parliamnt and the EU, they are all “over there.” Out of sight out of mind. That the drama that is there does not impact us. That the tentacles of the legislation enacted takes so long to trickle down to us that we fail to see the role it played in the first place.
I have always been fascinated with the European project. I suppose, I grew up as one of that first generation to beneft from it, the grant towards college education, the rising tide of a country and region that showed the signs being part of a gang. In college in the 1980s, we learned our views of Europe from lecturer Nollaig O’Gadhra who would tell us the text and then add in some realpolitik between the lines. So we emerged with a healthy scepticism and enthusiasm for its possibilities.
And in a way, we relished in the fact that we got European Social Fund punts because of the relative geographic and demographic poverty of the region.
But there is a different feeling now. There is a challenge like never before. Past trips have been dominated by agricultural and marine issues, but this time, they are further down the agenda.
For now, they have just seen off the enemy that was Covid. And at the door, the Russian bear is lining up to take its place.
There are many issues challenging the EU at the moment. One is the heightened power of disinformation that allows one person to be pitted against the other, creating division and mistrust. Creating the conditions that are ideal for revolution, for usurpation. To act as a sort of mica in the foundation of the EU.
In the past few decades, we have known the chills of recession, the realities of a war on the continent and the limitations, restrictions and fear of a global pandemic. In these times, we have found our place. Inside that famous tent or outside.
Now the EU has concerns that were undreamt of a decade ago. In a political world that has seen many surprises in this century, nothing surprises anymore.
The new challenges have been forced on us all — the climate crisis; the prospect of energy independence. They talk of building a supergrid that will be powered by the sun of southern Europe and the winds off the west coast of Ireland.
There is talk about recognising the war against poor mental health that is killing tens of thousands across the continent every year. They look at the ability of technology to enthral but to also haunt us, through the concept of cyber violence.
Laws which they enacted a decade ago are being updated, to keep pace with the ways of the world.
The EU was constituted in a different time, for a different challenge. It is still fighting those, but what I have seen this week is the way in which it is preparing for the new fronts it is battling on. And there are many.
